A Signature Look.... Smart or Boring?

What do Apple’s Steve Jobs, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg all have in common? Aside from the obvious? They're all known for a signature look. For Jobs it was his signature black turtleneck, Dorsey it’s his sharp Prada suit and Zuckerberg it’s his plain old gray t-shirt. This week, following Zuckerman’s first ever Q&A at the Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley, he commented on his “look”.

According to the CEO and billionaire, he wears the same type of t-shirt day in and day out not because he’s trying to start a gray t-shirt movement, it’s because he doesn’t want to waste any time or energy on “silly” or “frivolous” things such as choosing what to wear in the morning or deciding what to eat for breakfast.

"I really want to clear my life so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community,” he said.

Admirable, maybe. Boring, absolutely. I don’t think you have to be a fashion hound to acknowledge that how you dress can often affect your mood and attitude. For example putting on a sharp suit, shirt and tie combo and knowing it fits well can make you feel prepared and confident about heading into an important meeting or interview in the same way that pulling on jeans and a football jersey can get you in the spirit to meet your buddies for Monday night football.

What I do understand is that getting those details right (making sure you have two or three perfect suits that you know you look good in and knowing exactly what to wear with them, or finding the best fitting jeans, or figuring out how to look casual but not sloppy) can be time consuming and require a lot of thought, trying on, uncertainty and shopping.

That’s where I come in. Most of my clients don’t have the time or the desire to shop. I meet my clients, do a quick evaluation of what they already have in their closet then I come up with a strategy of what they need, and I shop for those key pieces. I photograph the looks (whether it’s tailored clothing for work or a special event, more casual looks for dates, or even relaxed but put-together weekend outfits) and my guys can refer to those pictures in a second, be dressed and out the door without ever even having to think about what they should wear.

So while Zuckerberg may think looking good is “silly”, I have to wholeheartedly disagree. In fact, I’m going to reach out to him and offer to style him myself, and I guarantee he wouldn’t need to use a single synapse of his nerdy brain-power on his clothing choices.

And I bet his wife would be happy. Is she really going to stare at his gray t-shirt for the rest of her life?

If you are looking to create a signature (yet sharp) look or you want me to help you streamline your clothing choices while saving you time and money, just shoot me an email. I’m offering a 10% discount to the first twenty people to respond with the subject line “Zuckerberg Challenge.”